Air conditioning device



March 5, 1,935. E. s. GORGE 1,993,159

AIR CONDITIONING DEVICE I I FiledlOot. lO, 1932 5 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTOR ATTORNEYS March 5, 1935.

E. s. GEORGE AIR CONDITIONING DEVICE Filed Oct. l0, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet2 AT'ORNEYS E. S. GEORGE AIR CONDITIONING DEVICE March 5, 1935.

:s sheets-sheet 3 Filed 001;. l0, 1952 R INVENTOR @ewige/3 G/ ATTO RNEYS Patented Mar. 5, 1935 am CONDITIONING DEvIcE Edwin S. George,Detroit, Mich. Application October 10, 1932, Serial No. 636,997

The present invention pertains to a novel air conditioning devicefortreating the vair both in summer and in winter. 'I'he principalobject of the invention is to provide a device of this charactersuitable for home, oce and factory use,

which may be built and sold at comparatively lowicost and which isreadily portable from place to place. i f I The device is used in summeras an air cooler and dehumidifier by blowing a stream of air along oneor more tanks containing ice or refrigerating units, the propermechanism for these functions being contained the apparatus.

In the winter, the tanks are iilled with water,

l5 andrwater drained therefrom is heated, elevated and discharged upon ascreen lying over the tanks and the blower fam 'Ihe water forms a illmon the screen. and the fan blows a current of air through the screen,whereupon the 0 humidiiied and iiltered of dust., In this connection,one of the important characteristics of the device is that no pump orother \mechanical means is required to elevate the water. The

heating element which causes the water to rise 5 also warms the water sothat itis more readily taken up by the current of air and furthercontributes to the heating of the room.

The invention is fullydisclosed by way of eample in the followingdescription and in the i0 accompanying drawings wherein;

Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of `the device;

Fig2 is a front end view; Fig. `3 is a transverse verticalr section, anFigs. 4 and 5 are plan sections on the lines 4-4 and 5-5 respectively ofFig. 1. Reference tpV these views will nowl be had by use of likecharacters which are employed to 'designate corresponding partsthroughout.

)The device is supported upon a hollow rectangular base member 1 whichrests on rollers^or casters 2.. Another hollow rectangular frame member3of angle iron is suitably secured upon the base member 1, as vbywelding, as illustrated 45 more clearly in Fig. 3. A l

f The cabinet proper includesv a rectangular wall 4 of sheet metalmounted upon the base 1 around the angle frame 3 and suitably securedkto the outer vertical web thereof; 'I'he top of the cabinet consists ofa removable .cover 5 mounted Ypon the upper edge of the wall 4. e

Within the wall 4 are mounted a suitable n ber of uprights 6 which havetheir lower ends fastened or welded to the member 3. Supporting brackets'l are secured to the uprights 6 for 1o claims'. (cl. zei-103) y Vthepurpose of supporting a rectangularv frame 8, as illustrated in Figs. 3and 5, for ,the pur-A pose which will presently appear.

A pair of tanks 9 are disposed within the cabinet, slightly above theframe 8, and are sup- 6 ported from the uprights 6 by means of .bolts10. 'I'he tanks extend lengthwise of the cabinet and are spaced fromeach other as at 11 and also from the wall 4 by'means of heat insulators12 surrounding the bolts 10. The tanks may also L be joined together atthe inner walls and at the upper corners by suitable ties 13 as shown inFigs. 1 and 3. Drip tanks 14 are suspended from the frame 8 and aremounted to lie immediately below the tanks 9 as more clearly shown inFig. 3.

Upon the tanks are mounted brackets 15 which support a screen 16overlying both tanks. A solid shield or deflector 18 is secured upon thescreen in such a manner as to cover the space' 11 between the tanks 9for a purpose which will presently be described.

A T-coupling 19 is placed at the bottom of the space 11 in communicationwith ports 20 in the inner walls of/ the tanks 9. The lower end of thecoupling is connected by a line 21 `to a chamber 25 22 in the bottom ofther cabinet. The chamber- 22 is in turn connected by a line 23 to ahorizontal pipe 24 secured along the axis of the lid 15, and directlyover the shield 18. The pipe 24 is formed with holes 25 in its bottom;and the rear end is closed by a plug 26. 'Ihe coupling 2'7 whichconnects the pipes 23 and 24 may readily be removed.

Within the casing 22 is Vmounted a conventional electric heating element28 which., howfever, may be replaced by any other suitable water heatingmeans such as a gas burner. In the line 21 is mountedfa ap type checkvalve 29 adapted to open in the direction from the T 19 to the housing22 and to close in the opposite direction. 40

An electric motor 30 is supported on transverse bars 31 resting onrubber mountings 32` on the base member 3. The shaft 33 of the motoris'vertical and carries a horizontal fan 34 disposed beneath the tanks9.

On the front wall 35 of the cabinet are mounted two electric switches 36and 37. A lead-in wire 38 passes through both switches in series and isconnected to one end ofthe heating element 28. A :use 39- is inserted inthis conductor and is 50 secured to the casing 22 in close'proximity tothe heating element but is obviously insulated from the casing asindicated by the numeral 40. The other lead-in wire 41 is connected toone of the terminals 42 of the motor and is branched *55 at 43 to theremaining terminal of the heating element. Finally, another conductor 44extends from the remaining terminal 45 of the motor into the conductor38 at a point between the switches 36 and 37. It will be apparent thatthe switch 37, when open, cuts out both the motor and the heatingelement while the switch 36, when open, with the switch 37 closed cutsout only the heating element. Current passing through the switch 37flows along the conductor 44 to the motor 30.

A pair of swivel drain cocks 46 are tted to the tanks 9 at the bottomthereof, and a pair of similar cocks 47 are iitted to the tanks 14.Normally, these cocks lie entirely within the wall 4 and occupy theposition shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. Adjacent these cocks, thefront wall 35 is tted with a door 48 having its upper edge hingedlysupported at 49 and its lower edge provided with a hand latch 50 adaptedto lock on the wall 35 as shown in Fig. 1. In order to drain the tanks,the door 48 is lifted and the cocks 46, 47 are swung outwardly to theposition shown in Fig. l.

'I'he device is used as an air cooler and dehumidifier in summer and asa humidifier in Winter. As a cooler and dehumidier, the device isoperated by filling the tanks 9 with crushed ice, or tting them withmechanical refrigeration units,l and starting the motor 30. The heatingelement is cut out, and the proper adjustment is made by closing theswitch 37 and openingq'the switch at 36. Air is drawn into the cabinetthrough the open bottom thereof and blown by the fan upwardly along thetanks 9, escaping through openings 5l in the lid 5. The air is obviouslycooled in passing along the tanks, and approximately 20% to 25% of themoisture in the air is condensed on the cold walls of the tanks. 'Ihiscondensed moisture drains into the drip tanks 14 from which it may beremoved through the cocks 47. Also the melted ice may be drained fromthe tank 9 through the cocks 46. The structure supported upon the tanksis not used and may be removed on loosening of the coupling 27. Theupper end of the pipe 23 is preferably plugged, and the water whichflows from the tanks into the pipe 21, casing 22 and pipe 23V does notoverflow the pipe 23.-

When the device is used in winter as a humidiiier, the upper structureis replaced by connection of the pipes 24 and 23 at the coupling 27 inthe manner shown in Fig. l. 'I'he tanks 9 are filled with water, andcurrent is supplied to both the heating element 28 and the motor 30 byclosing the switches 36 and 37.I Water flows into the housing 22, and,on being heated by the element 28, is raised to the pipeA 24. From thepipe 24 it is distributed over the screen 16 on which it lforms a thinlm. It will be seen in this connection that the part of the screen lyingimmediately over the space 11 is protected by the shield-18 so that nowater falls therein. The air which is blown upkwardly by the fan 34absorbs some of the water fromvthe screen and is discharged inhumidifled condition'through openings 52 in the top of the lid 5.Shields 53 are pivotally supported in the corners of the lid between theopenings 51 and 52 and may be held over either pair of openings by meansof olf-center springs 54. In the event that the steam pressure in thehousing 22 exceeds the water pressure in the tanks 9, the check valve 29closes the pipe 21 to prevent back flow of water into the tanks.

In summer Athe lateral openings 51 are uncovered so that the cooled,humidied air will be blown laterally, into the room rather than intoupper regions where it is less necessary. In winter, however, it ispreferred to blow the humidied air into the upper regions so that itwill distribute more uniformly in the intermediate or occupied'zone ofthe room.

Although specific embodiments 'of the invention have beeny illustratedand described, it will be understood that various alterations in thedetails of construction may be made without departing from the scope ofthe invention, as indicated by the appended claims.

What I claim is:-

1. An air conditioning device comprising a pair of spaced tanks adaptedto contain either water or a refrigerating medium, a water-retainingmedium mounted over said tanks, means for delivering water from saidtanks to said retaining medium and terminating in an apertured pipedisposed above said retaining medium, and a shield inserted between saidpipe and said retaining medium, partly covering the latter and disposeddirectly over the space between said tanks.

2. An air conditioning device comprising a tank, said tank beingconstructed of heat conducting material and having a large externalsurface and being adapted to contain a quantity of water, said waterbeing at a temperature lower than that of the surrounding air, means forcreating an artificial current of air and for directing it against saidexternal surface of said tank whereby moisture in said air condenses onthe surface of said tank, means for receiving the condensed moisturefrom the surface of said tank, and means adapted to cause cessation ofsaid moisture condensing function and for humidifying said artificiallycreated air stream, said means comprising a screen over said tank and inthe path of said air stream, means for pumping water from said tank andfor distributing it on said screen through which it passes to return tosaid tank, and heating means in the circulating system thus formed andadapted to raise the temperature of said water to a temperature higherthan that of the surrounding air.

3. An air conditioning device comprising a pair of tanks spaced apartvin a manner to dene a passage with the surfaces thereof, said tanksbeing adapted to contain a quantity of water at a temperature lower thanthat of the surrounding air, means for creating an artificial current ofair and for directing it through the passage defined by said tankswhereby the moisture carried by said air is condensed on the sides ofsaid tanks, meansy beneath said tanks for receiving the condensedmoisture, and means adapted to cause cessation of said moisturecondensing function 1 and for humidifying said articially createdcurapart tanks arranged to define an air passage and adapted to containa quantity of water, means for creating an articial air current throughsaid passage, a screen supported above said tanks and in the path ofsaid air currents, means for pumping water from said tanks and fordistributing it onto said screen, and means for raising the temperatureof said water being pumped to a point above the temperature of the aircurrent.

5. In air conditioning apparatus, wherein the air is de-humidied inpresence of ,higher temperaturesand humided in presence of lowtemperatures. of the air, a self-contained unit comelement projectinglaterally of such baille, a water l.heating unit below and adapted toreceive its water from the tanks, a. water conduit having a trickledischarge'portion above said meshed element and connected to the heatingunit, air discharge openings in the top zone,` of the casing, and meansfor controlling the operation of said fan and heating unit, wherebyapparatus operation with water as the tank content and both fan andheating unit active the meshed element will be subject to the trickledischarge to produce humidifying characteristics to the .air passingthrough said meshed element, and whereby apparatus operation with thefan active and heating unit inactive and with a refrigerant as the tankcontent air passing through th denite ow path 3 win be subject torie-humidifying action By heat exchange through the tank walls deningthe path. Y

6. Apparatus as in claim 5 characterized in that the self-contained unitis mounted on casters to provide for portability and to locate thebottom plane of the casing above the floor plane, whereby the air supplyfor the fan will be provided from the iioor zone of the room beingair-conditioned;

7. Apparatus as in claim 5 characterized by a trough-like member beloweach tank to receive .drippings, with the opposing inner walls of thelmembers positioned to form a mouth for the denite iow path. A

8.. Apparatus as in claim 5 characterized in that the outlet openingsforthe top zone are in two series one of which opens through the top ofthe casing and the other opening through the side of the casing, meansbeing provided to render one series active while the other series isinactive.

9. Apparatus as in claim 5 characterized in that the connection betweentanks and heating unit is automatically controlled to limit movement ofwater therethrough to transfer from the tanks.

10. Apparatus as in claim 5 characterized in that fan operation andheating unit activityr is by electrical means with the casing carryingexternal circuit make and break structures co-operative with circuits tosaid fan and heating unit to render them active and inactive at willwith activity of the heating unit limited to periods of activity of thefan.

EDWIN'S. GEORGE.

